WILLIAM TILGHMAN. li 



asre; but he vet delklited to dwell with the classics, 

 which he read with the advantage of Dr. Allisons 

 prelictions with more than ordinary facility. 



At this sera, science had asserted her pretensions 

 to the American soil ; and altho' it had been vainly 

 contended in the British Parliament, that this country, 

 so perfectly congenial as it is, to all the advantages 

 of freedom, had no taste for the Arts, and no efficient 

 patrons of the science : '* that even the nightingale 

 could not live upon our shores, '^ Pennsylvania put 

 forth her enterprise, and her sage Franklin, succeed- 

 ed in establishing a public library, which was soon 

 the medium of instituting a society for the promotion 

 of useful knowledge ; the college and academy of 

 Philadelphia being' then under the direction of dis- 

 tinguished Professors, and in the twelfth year of their 

 existence, flourished beyond the expectation of their 

 patrons, and foiled the hopes of those who opposed 

 them. 



In those days no Royal road had been discovered 

 to shorten the rugged patii to science. The same 

 course of studies was pursued which had raised Mil- 

 ton, and Newton, Pope, Dryden, Locke, and the nu- 

 merous host of English v/orthies, to that eminence 

 v/hich so few now are able to reach. Knowledge was 

 still sought for at the fountain heads, and sufficient 

 time and labour were generally devoted to its pursuit. 

 It is, therefore, no cause of wonder that so many 

 great men appeared and blazed upon us at ouce, at 

 the period of our revolution. 



